The New York Times talks with GEP Alumn Ti West (THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, THE INNKEEPERS) about horror, being in the two-films-in-a-year club and the newest installment to the X trilogy, PEARL, now in theaters.
Go watch PEARL, then check out the teaser for MAXXXINE, part 3 of the X trilogy.
From NYT: There’s something unusual about Ti West’s latest film, “Pearl,” now in theaters. The movie is a 1918-set prequel to “X,” West’s homage to ’70s grindhouse, but that isn’t strange. It’s not the gruesome story of a young woman who tries to slaughter her way from farm life to silver-screen stardom. It’s not the Douglas Sirk style with a slasher sensibility.
What’s peculiar is that both “Pearl” and “X” were released just six months apart, a bonanza for any filmmaker. It’s a twofer for the actress Mia Goth, too: In “Pearl,” she plays the unhinged title character; in “X” she plays Maxine, a porn starlet, and another role.
There’s more: West announced last week that Goth would reprise her role as Maxine in “MaXXXine,” the third film in West’s trilogy, which will be set in ’80s Los Angeles.
It’s not unheard-of for a director to have two films come out in one year. Alfred Hitchcock did it with “Rear Window” and “Dial M for Murder” in 1954. Ida Lupino, Steven Soderbergh, and Spike Lee did it.
But for a genre guy like West, an indie director best known for slow-burn horror like “The House of the Devil” and “The Sacrament,” it’s unicorn territory. The same for Goth.
“It was my first leading role in a movie, and then it snowballed into two leading roles in two films,” Goth said in a phone interview. “It’s become the most creatively fulfilling experience.”
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